Thursday, November 11, 2004

I felt like felting - mua vähän huovututti

I've already opened up somewhere and told people that I don't like felting. Why? Don't know really, just don't get the point: why make a huge garment, abuse it in your washing machine, drag out a smelly, shrunk, odd-looking thingy and then pretend that it looks exactly like you wanted it to be, even though it's impossible to predict whether it'll ever fit you, your children or the habitants of your doll-house. Mind you, I've watched my mother doing it (more or less intentionally) but honestly, folks, I haven't been able to see the attraction of it.

Having said all this, I do try to keep an open mind. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I found myself in a crafts shop buying some merino wool fibers, just because of their colour. I thought they'd match a ball of 100 % wool I had bought earlier this year and whose destiny was to become a winter scarf. I had big plans: crochet a loose net and then attach the fibers to it. Yeah. Right. After all, the colours didn't match, and in every case I had plenty of those blue, lilac and green shades so I decided to make a bag. In any case, a girl an't have too too many handbags, so I started knitting.

But what about instructions, you may ask. Nah, I'm an individualist and I want to make unique things. Ok, at least a swatch then? You should take some measurements and calculate how much it's going to shrink. BOOO-OORING! If I'm going to fail, it'll be a spectacular sight and I'm not afraid to show it.

But I have to admit: this is not as bad as I expected. The only problem was with the handles. I had no idea how they would behave themselves in the washing machine, how much they would shrink and would they be in any proportion to the size of the bag itself. Well, everything went better than I anticipated, and the handles were attached by my brave and faithful companion, Husqvarna sewing machine. In fact, if I ever needed to make an army tent, I wouldn't hesitate to give the task to Husky.
Myönnetään, tästä tuli parempi kuin odotin. Ainoan ongelman muodostivat kantokahvat: mulla ei ollut aavistustakaan, miten ne käyttäytyisivät koneessa, paljonko kutistuisivat (neuloin ne poikittain) ja olisivatko ne minkäänlaisessa suhteessa itse laukun kokoon. Yllätyksekseni hantaakit huopuivat issekseen ihan sopiviksi, minkä jälkeen ainoa ongelma oli niiden kiinnittäminen itse laukkuun. Mutta tämänkin ongelman hoiti uskollinen ja urhea seuralaiseni, Husqvarnan ompelukone. Itse asiassa jos milloinkaan sattuisin tarvitsemaan puolijoukkuetelttaa, en hetkeäkään epäröisi tarttua toimeen jos vaan saisin Huskyn käyttööni.

Lovely! I admit I test felt everyother fiber that enters the house (feltable wool is so hard to find here in the land of superwash). It's an addiction. Still, complementi! And if you squint, it does look like butterflies ;)

About Me

Knitting has come to me quite naturally. Our whole family does something with their hands (knitting, crocheting, cross stitching), even my father has knitted himself mittens when he was only a boy. At the moment I'm really lucky, living in Central Europe and having a relatively easy access to German, French and British yarns. And that shows in my flat. I really enjoy all the different colours and the structures of the yarns and am always trying some new stuff, techniques, patterns. And this may sound like a cliché, but for me knitting is a journey, you never know what you're going to encounter on the way. Love the experience; whether I finish a garment or not is irrelevant.